#defaced statues

Why do so many Egyptian statues have broken noses?

The most common question that curator Edward Bleiberg fields from visitors to the Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian art galleries is a straightforward but salient one: Why are the statues’ noses broken? (If you don’t want to read the entire article, which is fascinating, we’ve highlighted the answer to the question in blue and red.)

Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Written…

It’s a way to silence the dead (image:  Statue of pharaoh Senwosret III, who ruled in the 2nd century BC Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, description: reddish stone face, nose chiseled off, broken off of larger statue at hairline and chin)